Quotes by Winona LaDuke

“I dont understand all the nuances of the womens movement. But I do understand that there are feminists who want to challenge the dominant paradigm, not only of patriarchy, but of where the original...”

“The question of socialism or communism or capitalism or between the left and right I think the important question is between the industrial society and the earth-based society. And I say that beca...”

“One of our people in the Native community said the difference between white people and Indians is that Indian people know they are oppressed but dont feel powerless. White people dont feel oppresse...”

“Another thing is, people lose perspective. It is a cultural trait in America to think in terms of very short time periods. My advice is: learn history. Take responsibility for history. Recognise th...”

“I wanted to get out of Ashland, and I thought it would be pretty cool to go to school in the East. So I asked my guidance counselor what Ivy League schools were. And I applied to Harvard, Yale and ...”

“What we all need to do is find the wellspring that keeps us going, that gives us the strength and patience to keep up this struggle for a long time.”

“Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots. That is how we consider food. Food has a culture. It has a history. It has a story. It has relationships.”

“In the end, there is no absence of irony: the integrity of what is sacred to Native Americans will be determined by the government that has been responsible for doing everything in its power to des...”

“I don’t understand all the nuances of the women’s movement. But I do understand that there are feminists who want to challenge the dominant paradigm, not only of patriarchy, but of where the origin...”

“I will argue that native societies' knowledge surpasses the scientific and social knowledge of the dominant society in its ability to provide information and a management style for environmental pl...”

“Minobimaatisiiwin, or the good life, is the basic objective of the Anishinaabeg and Cree³ people who have historically, and to this day, occupied a great portion of the north-central region of the ...”

“Rarely is there money in the federal bureaucracy for the cultural and environmental needs of the Natives. I find it ironic however, that federal monies always miraculously appear to study and devel...”

“The Earth is our Mother. From her we get our life, and our ability to live. It is our responsibility to care for our Mother, and in caring for our Mother, we care for ourselves.”

“What gives corporations like Conoco, Shell, Exxon, Daishowa, ITT, Rio Tinto Zinc, and the World Bank the right which supersedes or is superior to my human right to live on my land, or that of my fa...”

“Today, on a worldwide scale, we remain in the same situation as one hundred years ago, only with less land and fewer people.”

“Simply stated, if we can no longer nurse our children, if we can no longer bear children, and if our bodies are wracked with poisons, we will have accomplished little in the way of determining our ...”

“Consumption causes the commodification of the sacred, the natural world, cultures, children, and women. And unless we speak and take meaningful action to address the high levels of consumption, we ...”

“This is not a struggle for women of the dominant society in so-called first world countries to have equal pay and equal status if that pay and status continues to be based on a consumption model th...”

“The framers of the U.S. Constitution envisioned life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in that document, but had little idea of what was to come. Since that time we've seen the land of the con...”

“The preamble to the U.S. Constitution declares as one of its purposes, to secure the blessings of liberty, to ourselves and our posterity. Should not those blessings include air fit to breathe, wat...”